ERIC Number: EJ1265935
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0888-4080
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Available Date: N/A
Characteristics of Personally Important Episodic Memories, Counterfactual Thoughts, and Future Projections across Age and Culture
Özbek, Müge; Bohn, Annette; Berntsen, Dorthe
Applied Cognitive Psychology, v34 n5 p1020-1033 Sep-Oct 2020
We have limited knowledge as to whether the phenomenological differences between episodic memories, counterfactuals, and future projections show the same pattern across age groups and diverse samples. Here we compared the characteristics of these mental events, reported by younger and older participants in a Turkish (Study 1) and in an American sample (Study 2). In both studies, memories contained more sensory-perceptual-spatial details, were easier to bring to mind, and more specific. Future projections were the most positive, whereas counterfactuals were the least emotionally intense. In Study 1, older participants rated the events more positively and experienced them with more perceptual detail, whereas younger participants reported the future to be more voluntarily rehearsed, important, and central. These age differences did not replicate in Study 2. Overall, phenomenological differences between the events are robust and replicate across diverse samples. However, age differences are more sensitive to cultural or individual differences.
Descriptors: Memory, Age Differences, Foreign Countries, Emotional Response, Cognitive Processes, Phenomenology, Cultural Differences, Individual Differences
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Turkey; United States
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